


Indiscretion

by Maldoror_Chant



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Fluff, Humor, Lemon, M/M, Timeline What Timeline, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-31
Updated: 2013-12-31
Packaged: 2020-04-07 06:32:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 17,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19079443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maldoror_Chant/pseuds/Maldoror_Chant
Summary: By Maldoror--Duo and Heero have kept their relationship a secret. But when the others notice something odd, this causes a lot of confusion. After all no one is seriously going to believe that those two are an item! Several misunderstandings ensue...





	1. One Degree of Separation

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Dacia, the archivist: this work was originally archived at [A Little Piece of Gundam Wing](https://fanlore.org/wiki/A_Little_Piece_Of_Gundam_Wing), which closed in 2017. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after July 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [a little piece of gundam wing collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/alittlepieceofgundamwing/profile).
> 
> Author: Maldoror  
> PG-13 due to inexplicit sexual content (just to be on the safe side)  
> This is in the continuation of the fics 'Whispers' and 'One Percent' but can be read by itself, particularly since this is a PG-13 and they are R-rated. This is also on a lighter vein then those other fics, it's mainly a comedy with a bit of romance.
> 
> Timelines: Sometime during the war, that's about all I can say...

Quatre drew his gun and lay it on the side of the table within easy reach before he sat down. He checked all the newly installed perimeter alarms with care. They only had the one monitor, it would flick through the four cameras in turn. He'd have to rely on the motion detectors for a more serious warning but the cameras gave him a visual reference.  
  
One camera was on the Gundam's hideout. The machines were hunkered down in a strong dip in the forest floor, tall black spruce (and clever camo) arcing above them. It had been a pain moving them there without disturbing too much foliage. Ever make a Gundam crawl? Quatre sighed. At least they'd be here for a couple of weeks. The constant moving was tiring them all so-  
  
The camera's slide show caught movement near the Gundams. Quatre's attention was immediate and acute, but it was just Heero. He was settling down on the grass in a small patch of sunlight streaming through a break in the forest canopy that Heavyarms had caused to exist with an injudicious movement. Tree plus gundam equals kindling.   
  
Quatre let the monitor flick through the other cameras.  
  
When it came back on Heero he spared another glance at the sombre pilot. He looked... so young like that. Like a kid working over a puzzle. Apparently his beloved Wing had thrown up a real hairball this time, judging from his air of intense concentration. The piece he was working on was too small for Quatre to make out, probably a circuit board since he had his laptop out too, on the dust sheet he normally used to protect Wing's more fragile components from other repairs.  
  
Maybe he'd take whatever it was in with him later, when the light faded. Maybe he and Duo could work on it together.   
  
The camera flicked again. Heero reappeared, the shadows of trees caressing him, slowly moving behind him...   
  
Maybe that would finally break that strange tension which Quatre found himself completely unable to define- that had erupted between 01 and 02 a few months ago and was now hovering at what the Arabian considered to be an unhealthy-  
  
 _Allah!  
What does he think he's doing!!_  
  
Quatre grabbed his gun purely by instinct and rammed it into his shoulder holster as he ran for the door, the image of a stalking Duo creeping slowly, menacingly, up on an unsuspecting Heero printed on his panic.   
  
Allah he's going to die!  
  
 _One_ of them is going to die!  
  
Probably Duo but Allah what does he think-!  
  
Quatre hesitated to grab a medical kit, decided against it and thundered out of the house. He was either going to stop this, or the first aid kit and bandages would be ludicrously insufficient.  
  
I knew something was brewing up, Allah forgive me, why didn't I say- do- what is he _thinking_ I didn't think it was so _bad_ -  
  
The hideout was a good ten minutes away from the safehouse. Quatre made it in less time, panting so hard he was unable to yell like he wanted to.   
  
No gunshots- no screams- no- _shit_!  
  
He stumbled against a root rearing out near the top of the dip, falling to his hands and knees, scrambling through the mulch of old leaves and undergrowth to reach his friends before-  
  
'Allah no! I'm too late!' He screamed in his mind, seeing two prone bodies.  
  
Two struggling prone bodies-  
  
Two... er... .  
  
What the _hell_... the uncharacteristic sentence echoed inside a big hollow rapidly forming between Quatre's ears.


	2. In the Woods

Trowa's gun was drawn. He'd seen Quatre tearing out towards the trees from a distance as he came back from a perimeter check. He ran after him but lost him in the woods, and he wasn't sure which hot spot his lover was running to. Frustrated, worried but practical, he walked back to the house slowly, covering every step professionally looking for danger. He'd check the monitors to see if a sensor alarm had been tripped. He knew Quatre could take care of himself, would not have taken off like that without backup if he had been unable to cope with the consequences. Quatre was the tactician of the team after all.  
  
He heard a quick ragged step behind him and was crouched with gun pointed before it fully registered.  
  
"Quatre." He said with relief.  
  
The blonde almost fell over when he saw Trowa.   
  
The pilot of Heavyarms stared at his lover for a few confused seconds. Quatre was red on every inch of visible skin, more than even exertion could explain. His eyes were wide, his hair tangled and full of leaves, his clothes- Trowa blinked, his clothes were ruffled and the knees covered with dead leaves, water stains, little twigs... his hands too, he saw, before the blonde started to wring them  
  
"Status?" He fell back on the mercenary routine by force of habit and sheer confusion.  
  
Quatre opened and closed his mouth a few times. The red started to drain from his cheeks, his eyes looked a little less wild.  
  
"I- er I-"  
  
Well it couldn't be a real danger. Quatre might look as dangerous as a toy rabbit to the untrained eye but he could be just as lethal and efficient as Trowa when the need called for it. He wouldn't be stuttering and stumbling about if there had been an immediate danger.  
  
"I thought I saw something on the monitors near the Gu-Gundams and checked but it wasn't anything."  The words were quick, too quick. Trowa was a master of infiltration, he knew all about lying, the pauses and natural tones that entailed. No, Quatre wasn't exactly lying, he thought he didn't need a space heart for this- but he'd stopped short of the whole truth. Which was very strange-  
  
A crackling of quick steps across the forest floor warned them of another arrival. Trowa put his gun away, recognizing the muttered commentary going with the steps as coming from Duo ‘Motor-mouth' Maxwell. But his mind stuttered in surprise as he saw Quatre's face. It had gone pink and horribly guilty and embarrassed, though the blonde was visibly trying to hide it from him.   
  
"Hey you guys, whatcha doing here?" Duo appeared.  
  
Trowa was the essence of an impartial observer.  
  
So he merely noted that Duo also appeared to have a few leaves on his clothes. And he appeared to be hastily straightening them at the sight of the other pilots. And he was giving them a wary eye. And...   
  
"N-nothing." Quatre blushed.  
  
Duo hadn't stopped, merely slowed. He seemed to be wanting to avoid them, Trowa noted again, sending that extra thought spiralling down to the little mass of confusion that was wandering around his chest, looking for a place to do some damage.   
  
Duo took one look at Quatre's face, then smirked, but it lacked his usual buzz (noted). He glanced almost acidly at Trowa (noted) then shrugged (noted) before passing them, instead of sticking around to chat as he would usually do (noted).  
  
Trowa didn't want to but he couldn't help also noting the slight mutter that drifted back to him on a treacherous breeze: "Well maybe _you'll_ get lucky."  
  
Trowa and a red-faced Quatre were left alone in the woods, unable to speak for a few moments...   
  
Trowa thought in straight lines and simple forms. He didn't deal well in conflicted thoughts and emotions.  
  
Now nothing had actually ‘ _happened_ ­happened' because Quatre had only been out of his sight for five minutes if that.   
  
But all the notes he'd made were telling him that during those five minutes, something might have very _nearly_ happened, something that had put both Duo and Quatre in very strange emotional states.  
  
He'd thought of Duo as a bit strange but a harmless baka (as Yuy put it) on first meeting him. Well, no, not harmless, no more than any other homicidal teenage terrorist. But not, well, untrustworthy.  
  
He'd even thought of him tentatively, touching hesitantly onto this new emotion- as a friend.  
  
A friend who knew about his relation to Quatre.   
  
But from those premises, he wasn't good at drawing conclusions about how other people would behave and react; he left that to Quatre.  
  
And Quatre, he knew for certain now, was going to lie to him. He could see it in his eyes, in the faint flush of his cheeks, the slightly unhappy droop of his mouth.  
  
So he wouldn't ask.   
  
Trowa didn't know what to think so he fell back on absolutes.  
  
He trusted himself and Quatre with everything in the universe.  
  
He trusted Duo (and the others) with his and Quatre's lives and Gundams.  
  
Nothing else would be able to touch that, so he was just going to have to take a cold calm analytical view of all this and work from there. And wait. And watch. And observe.  
  
"Shall we get back? Someone should stay near the monitors." Trowa said in his calm voice, his soul like a pool of roiling water caught under ice. He could feel his lover's eyes on him, puzzled and slightly relieved at feeling nothing untoward from him, even with Quatre's empathy. Calm and collected he lead the way back to the safe-house.


	3. Maxwell??

Baka.  
  
Heero blew a small leaf from the circuit he was examining.  
  
Yes, they'd been apart for three weeks. Yes, this was their first time alone together. Yes, he was admittedly just as... interested in resuming-  
  
If the baka had cracked this, he'd have to shoot him.  
  
No, he didn't really mean that. The part was ultimately replaceable, more so than a Gundam pilot, and Duo couldn't have known he'd reach over to clip it into the reader frame just as Shinigami was ghosting up to pounce. Actually it was lucky that Duo wasn't the thing to be cracked. Heero's concentration had been huge, and being out here in the open had increased his instinctive reactions to threats. Duo had chosen a very bad moment to try out his play-stalking and seduction games. Baka!  
  
Brutally honest with others, Heero had the decency to bring the same harsh light shining on his own actions. He realized that his annoyance with Duo was partly annoyance with himself. He'd been... to be honest he had been looking forward to resuming relations with the braided baka. Had that made him careless? He should have checked the circuit immediately instead of assuming it'd slotted itself correctly into the reader despite the shock of realizing Duo was suddenly behind him. But he'd been... distracted. First, in calming his immediate instincts to avoid hurting Duo. Then... He licked his lower lip slightly, which still tingled a bit from hard pressure, and straightened his tanktop. It had taken all his concentration to still his reflexes to avoid accidentally lashing out at his lover, who had taken even fewer precautions than usual in approaching the highly-strung perfect soldier. They'd both been impatient... and, still honest, Heero had to admit that he'd been enjoying the change in his afternoon's schedule until he realized the circuit had tumbled out of the reader and into the forest mulch.  
  
At least Duo was smart enough to realize he had to leave right away.   
  
\- steps approaching behind him-  
  
\- Maybe he'd underestimated the baka!  
  
Heero, about as angry and frazzled as he could be without a brain injury, didn't even bother to look up from his circuit, merely snarled: "Apparently I have to spell it out to you! I'm not interested in any sexual relations at this point. Or _ever_ if you continue to-"  
  
Words died on his lips as he analyzed several inputs at once. Steps too loud, and a scuffle that was sandal, not boot. Scent not Duo's shampoo. Horrified gasp- definitely not Duo's...   
  
Heero turned slowly to watch Shenlong's pilot rapidly leave the clearing.  
  
"K'so... "  
  
He wished he could curse like Duo. It seemed to relieve the pressure somewhat... His lips merely twitched then his attention went back to his circuit.  
  
Gundam first. The rest of the complications... later.  
  
*  
  
A small work shed skulked on the other side of the yard from the abandoned holiday cabin in the deep woods. It had been empty except for dust and cobwebs up to that point. Wufei had gathered some of each in his hair while pacing the floor. Now he was leaning against the worktop, hugging his sides and scowling.  
  
What a mess. What a mess! Heero's words kept repeating in his head until he thought they would burn permanent grooves in his synapses. Which were writhing in horrified embarrassment.   
  
What could he say, how could he explain! His mind reluctantly started to probe his past actions with Yuy to see where this misunderstanding could spring from.  
  
He groaned. Yes he was always hounding- that is, trying to persuade Yuy to spar with him. But that was because the perfect soldier was the best! Not because he wanted... some kind of further... ugh. They'd been living in close proximity for months now, on and off in various safe-houses and combat situations, some... unwarranted degree of intimacy was pretty much unavoidable, but why did Yuy think...   
  
In Wufei's mind, the pilot of Wing was something of an ideal. Perfect, cold, a soldier to the tips of his deadly fingers, a god of battle and revenge. It was the admiration of one warrior for another, not... but he was realizing how easily, so chillingly easily that admiration could have been... misinterpreted...   
  
He groaned again. With anybody else this misunderstanding would be embarrassing for the proud pilot of Shenlong, but with Yuy of all people, no! That just couldn't bear thinking of!  
  
"Chang."  
  
Wu Fei felt as if he'd been dropped into the artic ocean but he was no coward so he lifted his head to face Wing's pilot.  
  
"Yuy. Please believe me that I never intended to dishonour you with any suggestion that I was... interested in-"  
  
"I know that."  
  
"-you that way that-... you do?"  
  
"Yes. I apologize for my outburst. It wasn't intended for you."  
  
Wu Fei went from the artic seas to a warm summer shower. His tense body slowly relaxed.  
  
"That-that's good, I didn't want you to think-I... I'm not... "  
  
Heero simply nodded firmly a warrior's response, Wu Fei thought, embarrassed by his own confusion- and turned to go.  
  
"Wait a minute- who- who was it for?"  
  
Heero froze in the doorway. "What?"  
  
"You said it wasn't intended for me... who did you mean it for?"  
  
Wu Fei had the sudden suspicion that Yuy was simply trying put this behind them with his usual cold, uncaring efficiency by taking the quickest way out; by blaming himself for the mistake rather than blaming Wu Fei for what now seemed a series of gross improprieties (Wu Fei had really not intended walking in on Heero in the shower that time, he'd honestly not heard the water running!)  
  
Heero was staring at him as if judging his reply. Wu Fei began curdling inside again as this confirmed his fears. As if those words _could_ be meant for someone else! Who else would _dare_ to  
  
"Duo, actually."  
  
Ask a stupid question...   
  
"Maxwell?!"  
  
"Yes-"  
  
" _Maxwell_?!!"  
  
"I-"  
  
"He dares-!"  
  
"Chang-"  
  
"How-how could- how do you let him live?!"  
  
"Wait!" Heero managed to snag Wu Fei's arm as the pilot shot past him, hand on his katana.  
  
"What?!"  
  
"Calm down, Chang, I didn't mean-"  
  
"Calm down?" Wu Fei spun around. "The dishonourable dog is- is pursuing you with his- his unwanted-"  
  
"No, you don't-"  
  
"You do him the honour of fighting with him, he's the only one you'll spar with, you're his _partner_ , and he still forces his attentions on you? How _could_ you-"

 

"No one is capable of forcing anything on me!" Heero snapped.  
  
The shock of the words brought Wu Fei back to reality...   
  
... a reality where he was, unbelievingly, shaking Heero Yuy by the shoulders.   
  
The chinese pilot paled and stepped back quickly, out of harm's way. "I- I apologize, I didn't mean to-... didn't mean to suggest you couldn't take care of yourself. I know that. But how can you let Maxwell insult you like that and not retaliate!"  
  
"Chang, you misunderstood me."  
  
"Those words were not retaliation! I give Maxwell a harder time when he mistreats my name! How do you put up with his disruptive, disrespectful, inefficient behaviour?"  
  
"Duo is not inefficient." Heero said sharply, picking up on the worst to him- insult first. That just ignited Wufei's temper again.  
  
"Ignoring him won't make this go away! It's hard enough working in close quarters with the fool- damn, now I know why he always insist you share a room to sleep with him! You let him- Why, Heero? Why won't you let me-!" he wouldn't kill Duo, but a good set of bruises- "Together we could -" no, that was stupid, Yuy could shake Maxwell off with one blow of his iron fists, he didn't need Wufei's help for that.  
  
"I can't believe you chose _him-_!" That's what really hurt. Heero had chosen Maxwell to partner him in his missions, and spent time and patience training him, sparring with him... And the braided menace had repaid the perfect soldier with insults. "He doesn't appreciate the honour you do him! Not the way I would!"  
  
"Chang... " Heero seemed at a loss for words. Seeing him so embarrassed finally shocked Wufei out of his annoyance.   
  
Wufei took a step back, and gave a small bow of respect. "I'm sorry for my outburst, I... feel strongly about this. If you ever need... I've said enough. Think about it." He spun on his heels and headed blindly out into the woods.  
  
It was not his place to reprimand Heero. And Heero was not the one who needed it anyway. Yuy was apparently going to try rise above the insult for the sake of the team. But... the man shouldn't have to put up with it! If he thought the small outburst in the clearing would be enough to get Duo Maxwell off his back Wu Fei shuddered at the choice of phrase and the mental image it invoked- he'd visibly underestimated the pest. No, Wu Fei had a better understanding of Maxwell and his resilience to reasonable words. He wouldn't do anything to Duo physically if ever that became necessary, then Heero could do a much better job of that- but for the sake of the soldier's equanimity, he would attempt to talk to Maxwell and pound some sense into his thick demented skull, verbally.


	4. Two Views on One Conversation

That could have gone better...   
  
Heero hesitated to follow Shenlong's pilot. He didn't know where Chang was headed but... he replayed the conversation in his head, and then tried to extrapolate further discussions. He decided he needed to think about this and walked off into the woods in the opposite direction, back towards the Gundams.  
  
Heero thought about the problem for a few minutes while he walked, working unfamiliar parameters in his mind before realizing he was hopelessly out of his depths.  
  
I give up...   
  
His designers had never intended him to be part of a team. He wasn't equipped to deal with this type of discussion. He wanted to keep his relation with Duo discrete particularly in view of Chang's reaction-  but something would have to be said to pilot 05 to defuse this situation. He didn't know what though.   
  
Duo... first, he had to warn Duo to watch himself around Chang for a little while, the pilot had appeared quite furious. Then when he'd calmed down, maybe Duo could find one of his strange plans to explain all this to Chang without him further misinterpreting. Duo was the communicator. Heero thought glumly that his skills would certainly be put to the test in this case. To recover from Heero's slip-up, the cause of all this... the perfect soldier scowled at himself in dark anger.  
  
*  
  
Duo, entering the house, glanced back at the door just as it closed behind him. He could have sworn he'd heard someone call his name. He glanced through the door's pane at the yard outside. No one there, maybe it'd come from within the house? It sounded like Wuffers.  
  
Ah yeah, there was Wuffee coming out of the shed. Man he looked mad. What have I done now, Duo mused.  
  
What... Heero? Duo stared as Shenlong's pilot grabbed Heero ‘Touch Me And I'll Kill You' Yuy by the shoulders. He continued to stare as Heero failed to retaliate violently. Whatever they were talking about looked intense. He could swear he heard his own name again. He could read Heero very well by now and he looked upset! Duo, his head spinning, belatedly cracked the door open. Words drifted across the yard.  
  
"... sleep with him! You let him- Why,  Heero? Why won't you let me-! Together we could -... I can't believe you chose him-... ! He doesn't appreciate the honour you do him! Not the way I would!"  
  
The distinct clonk that punctuated that conversation was the sound of Duo's jaw hitting the floor.   
  
He stared in disbelief as Heero, who could blow up an Oz base without batting an eyelid, hesitated, looking perplexed and embarrassed.  
  
"I'm sorry for my outburst, I... feel strongly about this. If you ever need... I've said enough. Think about it."   
  
Duo stared blindly at Wufei's back disappearing out into the woods. He belatedly picked up his jaw, slotted it back into place, and glanced at Heero. Who was chewing his lip and glaring after Wufei. Before he could pop out to ask his lover what the hell that conversation was about -because it sure couldn't be what he thought it was about- Heero had spun on his heels and marched off as well. In a different direction to Wufei, Duo noticed with a relief he was almost ashamed of. But also in the direction of Wing, and considering what had happened earlier... Duo would wait for him to get back before he asked Heero what was going on.  
  
But as he plopped down on the couch, waiting for his lover impatiently, eyes blindly flitting over some magazine or other on the coffee table, the overheard words echoed in his mind. Wufei had apparently found out about him and Heero. How? It could only be through the most careful scrutiny even the empath Quatre was oblivious to their relation!- and, well, he could only think of one reason for the retiring pilot of Shenlong to keep such close tabs on them... And the overheard conversation started making a lot more sense... He stared unseeing at an ad for the perfect baby food thinking, ‘Wufei... I'll be damned... who would have thought... "


	5. Driving in the Nails

In the monitor room, Quatre was concentrating on the screen and sensor alarms, but couldn't stop thinking about other matters as well. Thank Allah Trowa had not asked him any embarrassing questions! He didn't want to lie to his love, but, well, he couldn't tell him about Heero and Duo without their permission. That wouldn't be right.   
  
He heard the sound of protesting couch springs and the flip of a magazine. Duo, his instincts told him (nobody else flopped on couches like that).  
  
Quatre hesitated, then slipped out of his chair, tuning the monitor alarm to his commlink automatically. He hesitated again in the doorway, his face already turning pink with guilt and embarrassment, but he squared his shoulders and approached the couch.  
  
"Duo?"  
  
Duo glanced up at him and smiled tightly, mind still very much elsewhere and for once not really wanting an interruption.   
  
Quatre felt the other boy's distraction and hesitated, licking his lips. He could feel himself blushing even more.  
  
"Duo, a-about earlier... " Quatre coughed.   
  
Duo grinned. Trust Quatre to be all flushed and embarrassed about getting caught in the woods with Tro. The jester automatically kicked in. "Well what is it, lover-boy? You know, red suits you." Of course, that made Quatre's cheeks explode.  
  
Duo surged up on the couch and knelt, leaning against its back, faces a few inches from Quatre's.  
  
"Duo, about what happened today... I mean, just earlier, you know, in the woods... "  
  
Here we go, the lame-o excuse, Duo thought. "My memory is excellent, Q-ty. You don't have to remind me. But I can't believe you'd be, ah, crass enough to tell me what happened between you and Trowa after he cold-shouldered me out of the way. That would be a bit below the belt."  
  
"N-no! I meant, before that!" Quatre fanned himself.   
  
"Oh, before?" Duo smirked, then frowned. Before? Before what? What did that have to do with him? Or did he actually walk in on the end of the little, ah, making out session between the Quatre and Trowa and not the beginning, as he'd thought? Duo's teasing instincts pounced. "Before, hmm? You had fun, I hope?"  
  
Quatre blanched, caught off guard. Had Duo realized Quatre had stumbled upon them? Did he think Quatre had _enjoyed_ seeing-... "I-"

 

"Come one, little angel, don't look so innocent!" Duo dug a sly finger into Quatre's waist. "You must have enjoyed yourself! I certainly didn't hear any hollers of protest." Duo smirked. Too bad he hadn't stumbled onto the scene earlier or he might have heard some other kind of holler. Mind you, after three weeks of not getting laid, running into Quat' and Tro going at it, well, that would have been just plain cruel.  
  
Quatre's mind was thrashing in confusion, and Duo bobbing up and down, bouncing around a bit on the couch and leering at him, wasn't helping. He caught Duo by the shoulders and, using his instincts and his empathy, stared into the boy's eyes for a few seconds Duo blinked in surprise- and realized that there was no way he and Duo were talking about the same thing. Even Duo would show some signs of embarrassment at being caught rolling around on a blanket with his tongue down Heero's throat and his hand up his tank-top-...Quatre fanned himself again.   
  
Besides, Duo couldn't know that he'd been watching, because if Duo knew then Heero probably did too, and Quatre was still alive, so-  
  
"Duo, I don't know what you think happened back there- listen to me, I'm serious!" Duo had started to leer again. "I _am_ serious, Duo." He decided to use a different tack, shaking the braided pilot gently by the shoulders. "This is no laughing matter, someone could get hurt, _is_ going to get hurt."   
  
Quatre was pretty sure he knew what had happened. A frustrated and lonely Duo had decided to have a fling with Heero, he couldn't imagine any other explanation, and though he could barely believe Heero had responded, he didn't think it could last. The fact Duo had been following close behind Quatre proved that their relationship hadn't gotten all that far yet. The empath had felt the hurt and frustration boiling from Duo's mind at that point, Heero had not let him get too far. No, Quatre didn't see this going anywhere nice and he didn't like to think of Duo getting caught on Heero's wrong side. He was heading towards a bruising if not worse- or a broken heart and Quatre was too close to the braided pilot not to say anything. "You know I care about you. A lot. I need to know, are you really serious about-"    
  
Something was niggling at the back of his mind, had been since the conversation started. He'd chalked it down to his own embarrassment at having to admit his unintentional voyeurism to Duo, but it had increased when he'd put his hands on Duo's shoulders. Quatre slowly lifted his head, then turned and looked around.  
  
Trowa was leaning against the kitchen doorway, out of line of sight of both boys. His face was impassive, body language closed, Quatre could feel nothing from his mind at all, though he'd picked up his presence. Crap! Quatre was briefly annoyed at seeing his lover, then felt guilty at the annoyance. But he'd really wanted to talk to Duo about this, and now, of course...   
  
"Yes?" Duo asked coyly, then followed Quatre's glance and jumped. Gah! He sunk back down on the couch in an unconsciously defensive position. He knew that Trowa did not take well at all about him teasing Q-man about their affair. He already had Heero mad at him today and the conversation he'd overhead with Wufei still ringing in his ears- he didn't need any extra complications.  
  
"Nothing, I need to go check the monitors." Quatre said quickly, and left before Duo could react.  
  
Great! Duo kept a careful eye on Trowa as the taller youth walked slowly into the living room and sat down heavily in a chair. Duo watched him with a mixture of defensiveness and nervousness. But Trowa didn't look at him, he seemed preoccupied. Duo couldn't quite believe his luck. Should he leave? No, Heero would eventually be coming back to the house to get something to eat, since he'd skipped breakfast, and Duo didn't want to miss him. If he didn't find out what that thing with Wufei meant soon he was going to have an aneurism. He picked up the magazine, a fragile defence, and read the baby food ad again.


	6. Half Life

All his life, Trowa had been inert. That was the best way he could describe it. Not sad, not in pain, not empty. All these things were close to what he'd felt but did not entirely describe the state of uncaring acceptance in which he hovered, barely existing. He did what he was told, he performed as he was expected, he never hoped for better, never feared the worst. It was as restful as the grave but he'd not known enough to realize it.  
  
Like the cat in Schrödinger's box, he'd been in a state of flux, neither dead nor alive, until the event which suddenly defined him.  
  
Quatre had smiled at him. And told him to lower his hands (he was surrendering at the time).  
  
A minute later, Quatre asked him to lower his hands again. This time, Trowa heard him.  
  
But that first smile, that first look... it had been like a stream of energy, hitting him and suddenly he was in an entirely different state, a different level of awareness. He didn't know what had passed between them, that current, but the results were plain. He was no longer Nanashi, no longer the automaton with the borrowed name. He still obeyed orders, performed as he was expected, in fact only one person could say that he was any different than before. But he was. He now had something. A focus, an energy. Someone had smiled at him and thought he was worth it. It was not something he could explain, why that smile had been different from any other grin his mercenary colleagues had given him during his tour of duty with them. Why that first look had transformed him so completely, had given him this energy, this purpose, this being.  
  
But it was there. And it wouldn't leave him, he knew, until the day he died. It didn't matter whether Quatre was his lover or not. It didn't matter that they were even friends, or that Quatre was alive or not, though the universe could cease to exist for all he cared if that eventuality came to pass. Nothing could change the fact that now he was aware, he'd broken the barriers that kept him in his inert state and he was now a little source of light which pulsed to the memory of a smile and a look from bright blue eyes.  
  
Trowa looked at Duo carefully, ensconced behind his magazine. He'd overheard the conversation from the beginning; Trowa, the perfect infiltrator, had no compunction about eavesdropping, didn't even fully understand the notion. He replayed the words, the tones of voice, and categorized the different sentences. It hadn't been very clear.   
  
Quatre had sought Duo out to talk about what had occurred between them before they'd stumbled into Trowa. Quatre had wanted to know if Duo was serious about it. Duo had just been his usual hyper self (the words 'lover-boy' and 'little angel' rang hollow in Trowa's mind, though) but had implied that whatever happened, Quatre had apparently not protested, had maybe even enjoyed it. It had sounded teasing. When Quatre had said he cared about Duo, it hadn't sounded teasing at all.  
  
Seen logically, the overheard conversation could have meant a lot of things, but he was hard pressed to find many explanations that could entirely fit when added to the notes he'd taken earlier.   
  
He also analysed the looks of the two once they realized he was listening. Quatre had looked aggrieved and guilty to see him, and that actually managed to hurt him a little. Quatre should never have to feel guilty or angry at him. 'Someone's going to get hurt', the Arabian has said, well, that worried Trowa. Quatre was a kind and loving person, who should always follow his heart. If he had fallen for someone else not an unlikely contingency in Trowa's mind, he never understood how he'd earned the privilege of being loved by Quatre in the first place- then Trowa would be horrified to think he could be the cause of pain or hesitation to Quatre.  
  
Duo had looked nervous and guilty as well. That Trowa could live with. He didn't feel anger towards Duo because he'd become the attention of Quatre's affections. But the tone of the conversation indicated that if that was the case (and there were still reasonable doubts) then Duo was not taking this very seriously, and that, Trowa found, worried him too.   
  
The joy he felt at being with his love, the pleasure, the friendships he had developed while basking in that warm glow of Quatre's openness, all that he could forego. He could live without it because he already had for most of his life. The loss was manageable. He would still pulse to the energy of a smile that had been meant for him alone, and that had awakened him. He didn't want the person who had given him that gift to be hurt. If all other acquired emotions died, that one would remain.   
  
He had been staring at Duo for five minutes, fixedly, but the thief had not left the ramparts of his magazine. Duo always knew when someone was watching him, so he must be hiding deliberately. Trowa wondered if he should say something. 'Hurt him and I'll snap you in two' sounded presumptuous Quatre was his own person and had to live his own life, as did Duo - as well as premature. Nothing had happened yet, he was guessing, and, since the conversation was ambiguous, nothing might be happening at all.  
  
He didn't know what to do, but he would watch Duo carefully. If Duo and Quatre loved each other, well, fine. But if Duo was making Quatre fall for him just to relieve the normal tensions anyone their age would develop in these kinds of conditions... Trowa would have to warn him that this was compromising their team, if nothing else. If worse came to worse, he could tell Heero- no, that would be murder, he could imagine how the perfect soldier would react to that kind of dallying. No, he'd have to talk to Duo himself and see if he could sort him out, if he was, indeed, toying with Quatre instead of being, as the blonde had required, 'serious'. He'd have to have solid proof that Duo was teasing before he intervened though; otherwise, if they _were_ both serious, then this was Quatre's business and his alone. He ignored the dull ache that was forming somewhere in his chest with the force of long habit in fact, he'd never even noticed it before and wouldn't now if he didn't know what it was like to live without it. It settled on him like a crystalline coating, meshing him.  
  
And something else...   
  
Trowa glanced away from Duo who was still ignoring him with all his might and scanned the room. Heero was looking at the pilot of Heavyarms through the door's glass pane, a scowl and a strangely weighing look on his face.  
  
As their eyes met, Heero opened the door. Duo shot out from behind the magazine with a relieved grin.  
  
"Heero buddy! Just the guy!"  
  
"Duo... could I have a word with you?"  
  
Duo froze at the tone and the look in the prussian blue eyes. Trowa managed to feel a twinge of sympathy for someone he still couldn't help but consider a friend. Yuy was obviously chewing over something serious. Sounded like Duo was in trouble...   
  
"Guys."  
  
Quatre was leaning in the door to the comms room, his face serious. "We have a disturbance. Something's knocked over a sensor line."  
  
"Did you get a visual?" Heero's voice was as precise and calculating as his laptop.  
  
"No, whatever it is it's out of camera range for now." Quatre was turned towards the monitor, checking as he spoke. "North quadrant. No confirmation. Could be an animal." They were far out of any beaten path, it was likely to be some woodland creature. But it went without saying it would need to be checked. Quatre turned towards the others and suddenly something else flashed through his eyes.  
  
"Duo, want to come with me to check it out?" Quatre asked, his eyes dropping and blushing slightly he wasn't very good at hiding his feelings. Trowa felt the sinking feeling again, but ignored it.  
  
"Sure thing, Q." Duo sighed, glancing at Heero, who was frowning at him.  
  
Trowa spoke calmly. "Quatre, you need to stay by the monitors in case there's another disturbance. You set the motion sensors, you know where they're located. You can direct us to this and any other disturbance over the comms."  
  
"Oh, okay." Quatre looked a bit put out, but couldn't protest. Trowa stood and motioned to Duo. He thought he caught a strange look from Heero, but a second later the blank face was all business again as he said: "Duo and I can go and check it out."  
  
"Yeah!" Duo shot out of the couch, apparently forgetting he was in trouble with Heero, Trowa thought. He'd not wanted to keep Duo and Quatre apart, that wasn't his prerogative, but he did want a chance to ask Duo a few questions.  
  
"Someone has to watch the Gundams... " Trowa murmured. He didn't know much about people and the way they reacted, but Yuy was ultimately predicable. Heero was out of the door with a confirming 'Hn' before any of the three registered his absence.  
  
Trowa noticed Duo's shoulders slump. Was Duo so worried about Trowa's reaction that he'd rather go with Heero Yuy, who had a visible bone to pick with him, instead? Trowa frowned internally. The conversation would not be easy if that was the case. But he could try...   
  
*  
  
Heero walked rapidly towards the Gundam's hiding place, brow furrowed. Most of his mind was occupied with thoughts of defence and strategy. But right at the back, in the easily ignored part of his mind, another tiny thought was running around in circles. He'd have been very annoyed at it but he'd run out of mental processes to cope with that extra input so it ran on unimpeded.  
  
That had been... strange. He was not normally attuned to other people's emotions (and he didn't give a damn about them either, that probably didn't help) but...   
  
He'd arrived at the door just as Trowa had sat down. He knew the tall stoic pilot was not one to sit around doing nothing for more than a minute so had waited for him to leave so he could talk to Duo. And he'd waited. And waited. And studied the very strange expression on Trowa's usually unreadable face as the man stared at Duo's magazine fortification which was also, on reflection, strange. Neither of them had even noticed he was there which was not only sloppy but proof positive that something weird was going on.  
  
The look that Trowa was giving Duo... For some reason, Duo's usual chirpy phrase was running through his mind. 'It's always the quiet ones!'  
  
Heero scowled, his face taking on the sort of expression that could kill small mammals at a distance. Up ahead several squirrels dived for cover and a rabbit ran for dear life.  
  
Damn it, why were things getting so complicated all of a sudden!


	7. Cross Purpose, Cross Dragon

In the end, Trowa was unable to have much of a conversation with Duo, even if he'd known how to start it. They'd quickly fallen into a combat pattern; Duo, the master of stealth, flitting in absolute silence through the woods up ahead, and Trowa watching his back, communicating with Quatre and following at a distance.  
  
They reached the disturbed area and examined the evidence. The sensor had been knocked down and the underbrush scuffled.   
  
"Think it could have been a bear?" Duo muttered, fingers on his gun. They were deep in the woodlands, and there were big carnivores around.  
  
Trowa said nothing, examining the faint tracks. He didn't like the looks of them. "I don't think so." He murmured. They were too wide, too obvious to be a single animal.   
  
"Damn. Let's split and quarter the area." Duo sighed. No other disturbances had registered on the sensors but they weren't that closely linked.   
  
"Okay." Trowa set his mind to concentrate on the problem but first... "Duo?"  
  
"Hm?"  
  
"... "  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"... what you and Quatre do is none of my business but please take him seriously, he's not as... tough as you seem to think."  
  
Duo blinked at him in confusion, then embarrassment, though he didn't seem resentful. Then again Duo never was, maybe he just couldn't take things seriously.  
  
"Ah so you did hear us-erm, Tro, I was just-"  
  
The communicator beeped. *Status?* It was Heero's cold tones.  
  
Duo's face immediately became serious. "Still checking. We're about to split and cover the ground. I'll call back in five."  
  
*Acknowledged.*  
  
Duo spun away and ran off in an arc towards the Gundams, gun in hand and without further words, though, after a minute of running silently and finding nothing, he couldn't help thinking back to the conversation. Geez, Tro could sure be sensitive about a little teasing! Well, he was when it was Q who was involved. Duo snickered in complete silence. Those guys were so cute!  
  
Trowa went the other way, eyes flicking over the ground. The area around was rocky and ravined, he couldn't follow the tracks. He couldn't follow the workings of Duo's mind either. 'Just' what. Just having fun? Could even Duo be that callous, towards himself or Quatre? Stress and hormones were a potent combination... Maybe he didn't mean any harm, but Trowa remembered with an ache Quatre's serious face as he tried talking to the braided pilot, and thought harm of some sort might occur anyway.  
  
*  
  
Duo ran from one awkward situation right into another one, and into an irate Wufei at the same time.  
  
"Maxwell!"  
  
Oops.  
  
"Come back here! We need to talk!"  
  
"You sure it's me you need to talk to?" Duo couldn't help smirking a little as he turned. Quatre hadn't reported any other disturbance, it was probably nothing. He wasn't sure he wanted to talk to Wuffers before talking to Heero though, and the later would be with the Gundams.   
  
"Definitely!" Wufei snarled. "It has come to my attention-... " He suddenly paused, flushing.  
  
Duo was unable to resist. That flush was a red flag to the bull.   
  
"Oh Fei-fei-"  
  
"Wufei!"  
  
"Wuffikins, I know it's hard to talk about these personal things. Especially when you have a katana up your- urk!"  
  
Duo found himself slammed against a tree, two strong hands knotted in his vest. Blazing onyx eyes were burning into his own.  
  
"You will listen to me. Yuy might not say anything to you, but I will. Leave... him... alone. Got that?"  
  
Duo blinked a few times, then grinned dangerously.  
  
"Wow, so you did notice. I didn't think you had it in you."  
  
"Oh I noticed, Maxwell, and now -"  
  
"I mean, that spandex, right?"  
  
"-you will desist-"  
  
"What's in the spandex _is_ pretty drool-worthy-"  
  
"-shut up, desist in pursuing someone who-"  
  
"-who looks hot enough to melt the polar caps? Yeah we _both_ noticed."  
  
"I noticed alright!"  
  
There was a short sharp silence while Duo, still caught in iron fists, grinned delightedly and Wufei paused to replay Duo's side of the conversation, which he'd only been partly listening to as it made him acutely embarrassed.  
  
"That's good, Wufei, let it out!"  
  
"Th-that's _not what I meant_!"  
  
"Well that's what you said!"  
  
"I meant I noticed your pursuing him!"  
  
"Yeah but you've got the hots for him too, so that makes it easy to-"  
  
A fist smashed into the tree an inch from Duo's face.  
  
The pilot gaped at Wufei's enraged features.  
  
"Man you're really serious about this... "  
  
"Of course I am, you braided menace!"  
  
Duo stared. What he didn't get was what Wufei hoped to accomplish speaking to Duo about it, especially if he wasn't even ready to admit he was infatuated with Heero himself.  
  
"Look, Wufei, back off. It's obviously hurting you where you live-" Wufei's face blanched with anger so Duo quickly waved his hands, trying for a tone of reason instead of hostility and annoyance. "But you have to see that Heero has to make his own choice in the matter."  
  
"Would you listen to him if he did?!"  
  
"Of course I would. If he came up to me and said, 'Duo, I'd rather sleep with Wufei than you', I'd say okay and leave him be."  
  
"Leave him be! Right!"   
  
"Of course first I'd check him for-"  
  
"Wh- _what_?!" Once more, Duo's part of the conversation caught up to Wufei a little too late.  
  
"-brain injury, then I'd make sure he-"  
  
"What did you say?!"  
  
"-wasn't drugged or tortured by OZ first and then I'd-"  
  
"How dare you!"  
  
"-bust his chops, but I'd leave you two in your little idyll right after his bones heal." Duo gasped as the fist tightened again in his vest. "What? What did I say now? I just said-!"   
  
Two spots of red had ignited on the oriental cheekbones and burned as angrily as the eyes.  
  
"Get your mind out of the gutter! I don't want to sleep with Yuy!"  
  
"Oh yeah, Wuffee, and I'm Lady Une in drag." Duo flinched and raised his hands quickly as Wufei's fist twitched back. "Whoa, Chuckles, get a grip, it's not the end of the world."  
  
"How dare you suggest such a thing!"  
  
"Suggest?" Well of course Wufei didn't know Duo had overheard his conversation with Heero. "Well... " He extemporized quickly. "You _are_ warning me off of him and all-"  
  
"I'm acting as a friend! Yuy is way above you."  
  
"But not above you?"  
  
"He's above me t- no, shut up! I'm acting for him because he won't tell you!"  
  
Duo's ears pricked. "Tell me what?"  
  
"That he has no wish to have a relationship with you!"  
  
Duo's mouth opened slightly, but he didn't say anything. Heero's face had suddenly come back to mind as he'd asked him to follow him on the inspection of the perimeter. Grave, angry, embarrassed... Something even more serious than a busted circuit board was afoot. Duo's heart suddenly wobbled.   
  
"I can't even imagine how you thought you'd ever get anywhere with him!" Wufei ground on. "Heero Yuy would never let himself be distracted by sex."  
  
"Well that's true." Duo grumbled. Was that what was in the works? Was Heero still angry about the Duo-shaped distraction that had nearly cost him a circuit board? He'd always let Duo know he came a distant second to the missions and Wing... And Duo was aware that he was always hovering on the edge of being an obstacle in the pursuit of perfection. Was Heero finally going to do something about it?  
  
Wufei scented victory. Reason and justice would prevail! "He will never sleep with you so you can stop your pursuits!"  
  
Duo blinked, suddenly jolted from his grim thoughts. "That's... less true... " Never? What did Wufei mean, he and Heero had been humping like weasels for...   
  
Did... did Wufei not know maybe how far they'd gone... ? If that were the case then Heero would have been unlikely to confide in Wufei he wanted to get rid of the 'braided menace'...   
  
Wufei's face darkened at the return of the jester's smile (hiding some relief) "Are you listening to me, Maxwell? He's the perfect soldier, not some object for your amusement!  
  
"Oh you just drool when you say 'Perfect'"  
  
"Shut up! Will you desist?"  
  
Duo's hand shot up in a 'scout's honour' gesture. "I promise I won't make a move until Heero does so first." He said solemnly. After this conversation he was going to be damned sure of that.  
  
Wufei was left slightly off-balance in the face of that promise. Duo could weasel out of a lot but he generally kept his word and didn't lie. Somehow, though Wufei had made the effort to talk to him, he hadn't thought it would be this easy. "Well... okay then."  
  
"But you have to promise me the same thing."  
  
" _What_?!"  
  
"Promise m-"  
  
"Maxwell, are you insane? I told you I don't want to have sex with-"  
  
"You're drooling again."  
  
"Maxwell!"  
  
"And also the way you said 'Right!' when I said Heero might want to sleep with you-"  
  
"Ma-!"  
  
Duo's hand was covering Wufei's mouth, eyes wide.   
  
Wufei felt the tension hum through the body under his hand, saw the eyes, the serious expression...   
  
Heard, in the distance, the noise of footsteps crackling in the underbrush.  
  
Footsteps that were way too loud to be from any of the light-footed pilots...   
  
The two teens were shadows in the dappled light and just as quiet as they sank down into the undergrowth. Trees cut visibility to shreds, but they saw enough...   
  
Glimpses. Several men, walking quietly, cautiously. Fatigues. A glimmer of light on a weapon's long barrel.   
  
Trouble.


	8. Disturbance

Wufei and Duo sprinted through the woods in nearly complete silence. They'd already sent the evacuation signal through the comms. Quatre had confirmed and told them to grab the Gundams and leave in two different directions, in groups of two and three. They were now maintaining radio silence.  
  
Then Duo stopped.   
  
"I'll circle around to the Gundams and check our perimeter there." He snapped. "You make sure no-one's attacking the safe-house, and help the others evacuate."  
  
"... Acknowledged." Wufei thought that was mighty helpful of Duo. Showed that maybe he had his head in the right place after all, if he was thinking of the Gundams first instead of hanging around the safe-house hoping to be grouped up with Yuy when he left. He normally wouldn't leave Nataku's safety in charge of anyone but in this instance... maybe he should encourage that.   
  
Wufei knew the others were in or near the safe-house, preparing to evacuate. There hadn't been that many enemy soldiers, they'd only seen four or five people, but it was probably an advanced reconnaissance party. Once OZ knew where they were, mobile suits and armoured troops were inevitable. Better leave now and have a chance to shake them off quickly.  
  
No one had encircled the safe-house yet. Wufei stuck his head in the door, snapped ‘All clear, hurry!' at Trowa and Quatre who were efficiently packing and dismantling the installation. Wufei grabbed his own things and Duo's he knew the braided pilot would not come back to retrieve his few possessions now that he was near his Gundam, he would prioritize evacuation of the machine- and waited, weapon drawn, for the others.  
  
They were almost to the clearing when he realized Trowa was carrying Heero's things as well as his own and that the perfect soldier hadn't followed them out of the safe-house.   
  
"Where's Yuy?" Heero would be the first to abandon his things to get to Wing, but he'd not passed them on his way to the clearing. Where... ?  
  
"He went to check on the Gundams when the alarm was first tripped." Trowa told Wufei in curt tones. "He and Duo will be leaving as soon as we get-"  
  
"What?!" Wufei swore in mandarin. "He managed to corner him?! Now they'll be stuck together for days!"  He glared at Deathscythe who was powering up, along with Wing. Behind him Quatre was already running towards Sandrock. Trowa had stopped to stare at the Chinese pilot.  
  
"What do you mean?" ‘Corner him'? Trowa was suddenly worried, remembering Heero's bad mood. Did Wufei know something about it? Come to think about it, he'd seen Wufei and Heero arguing from the kitchen window, and they'd both looked pretty upset. At one point Wufei had shouted and Trowa thought he'd heard Duo's name. Well, Wufei shouting about Duo was far from unusual, but now, Wufei seemed to be really worried about something.  
  
A stream of mandarin was his only answer as Wufei swung up the zipcord towards Nataku's mechanical embrace. Trowa frowned and left to get Heavyarms. It was too late, Wing and Deathscythe were about to take off. If Heero injured Duo... Quatre would be horrified, as hurt as if the punches landed on him instead. Trowa glared at Wing and hoped the perfect soldier wasn't planning anything more than chewing Maxwell out for whatever the braided youth had done now.  
  
*  
  
In the woods, the man paused. He signalled to the four others behind him to crouch down, and they complied, lifting their weapons as they watched the leader attentively.  
  
The man drew an small dark cylinder from the pocket of his military fatigues. He looked around carefully, ears prickling to the strange silence that had fallen around them. Then he lifted the object to his lips, shifting his gun to rest on his hip as he did so. The sound from the object shattered the silence, throbbing like a wounded warning siren.  
  
One of the other men frowned.  
  
"Emmet, that doesn't sound anything like a "  
  
The entire world heaved and shuddered from several blasts nearby. The men yelled lips moving in apparent silence as their voices were high jacked by the tumult- and hit the forest mulch as two objects ripped the air above their heads, barely clearing the tree-line.   
  
Before they could even lift their heads, another three objects hurtled overhead on a slightly different vector, waves of pressure from the sheer mass flattening them to the ground, showering them with leaves and bits of twig and a sound that was almost a physical presence.  
  
A moment of silence...   
  
A branch cracked overhead, and a few more twigs showered down upon the huddled figures.  
  
Finally one of them lifted his head and stared at the leader who was cowering in a pile of last season's dead leaves, his army surplus fatigues quite mulched and his deer rifle forgotten in a puddle.  
  
"Bloody hell, Emmet..." The slightly concussed hunter could barely hear his own words for the ringing in his ears, not that he was making much sense. "What kind of moose call are you _using_?"  
  
*  
  
Quatre had already selected a new safe-house, a fallback position that he'd been saving for a rainy day. And it was. Raining that is.  
  
The house was a two-bedroom bungalow near an abandoned private airfield. It was a good hideout because the rusty old airplane hangar could have been built with the intention of hiding a bunch of Gundams. Quatre let Sandrock power down by itself and left the others to manage unpacking supplies while he went to check and activate the security net his Maguanac friends had installed on a previous visit a few months ago.  
  
"I'll send Heero and Duo the coordinates as soon as I finish checking things in the house." He shouted over his back as he left through the hangar door.  
  
"At least they won't be alone together long." Wufei muttered as he dropped his bag on the tarmac and turned back to Shenlong for the next load.  
  
And ran smack into a silent Trowa who had appeared like a ghost behind him.  
  
"Barton! You're as bad as Maxwell, don't sneak up on people like that!"  
  
"You're worried about Duo being alone with Heero."  
  
"Damn right!" Then Wufei bit his lip and swore at himself silently in mandarin. He wasn't about to expose Yuy's problem to the others...   
  
"I can see why. They'll be here in an hour and we can run interference between them then." Trowa said calmly.  
  
Wufei's eyebrows shot up.  
  
"You-you know?"  
  
"Yes, it would be hard to miss." Heero was the legendary five-hundred pound gorilla, you kept a careful eye on him and his moods. Especially when he appeared to be mad at someone. And especially when that someone was a hyper braided boy who was never as careful around Heero as he should be.  
  
Wufei was mortified. Had it been that obvious? He'd have stayed completely ignorant if Yuy, in his understandable annoyance and stress, hadn't slipped up... But Trowa was the infiltrator, a silent presence at their back who spent his time watching and listening rather than talking; if anyone would have noticed Duo's lustful pursuit of Heero-...   
  
"Barton, we have to do something!" His anger was reigniting. Maxwell had promised-... but he was pretty sure his offer to check the Gundams had been intentional so he could leave with Heero. "This is... unjust!"  
  
"Well we can't do anything until they get back. I just hope nothing happens in the meantime." Trowa shrugged, laconic in the face of factors he couldn't control.  
  
"Ha-happens?" Wufei blanched, then caught himself. "Heero will kill him first!"   
  
Trowa's eyebrows shot up. "It's-... that bad? I don't know how far this has gone... ." He didn't know the specifics. What _had_ Duo done? Was it bad enough for Heero to finally make good on all his threats?  
  
"How far did you think Heero would let it go!" Wufei's cheeks blazed.  
  
"I-... Heero didn't look _that_ angry about it, Wufei." Whatever ‘it' was.  
  
Wufei blanched again. "Are-are you suggesting-" He shook his head sharply. No. No way. No no no way. He didn't even want to think about it. "Heero is just doing what he thinks is best for the team. He'll put up with a lot for that, he's a dedicated, single-minded warrior."  
  
"It can't be what's best for the team, to harm Duo. I know he can be annoying sometimes, and... hurtful-" Trowa kept a firm control on his voice. "But he's our comrade."  
  
"And he has to be made to remember that! Don't worry, Yuy will only rattle his teeth if things get to a head. Although he has my permission to do worse!" Wufei suddenly frowned. At the back of his mind, he realized that... he didn't really mean that. Part of his attempts to get through to Maxwell was worry about their team. He had a feeling that Yuy was the kind who would put up with a lot with complete indifference until you reached a certain point... and then-... then things could completely flip around, and get very ugly indeed.  
  
Duo... Duo wasn't his favourite person right now Wufei scowled at the memory of insults directed at him as well as at Yuy- but he didn't want to see the braided menace with a hole in his head.  
  
Trowa was frowning at him, wondering which side he was on, exactly, since he didn't seem to be making much sense either way. Just who was Wufei worried about here?   
  
Wufei scowled, realizing he'd probably shocked the stoic pilot, who seemed to get along with Duo fairly well. "I mean... well, I hope it doesn't go too far, but Duo has a good bruising coming to him, that's for certain! How he can insult Yuy that way... pursuing him in the middle of a war, when all our attention should be focused on the liberation of the colonies, not our-our hormones! I don't think Yuy will kill him; he didn't look murderous about it, just resigned. He might give Maxwell a good hiding if he thinks he's going too far, but I don't think he'd-... but I know for a fact that he does mind Duo's libidinous pursuit of him, Barton!" Wufei added to the blank face. "How could he not! And if you heard what Maxwell said to _me_! You would-"  
  
Wufei stared at the hand that had appeared in front of his face, one finger slightly raised.

 

"I'm sorry." Trowa's voice was as calm and flat as always, but his eyes were glinting slightly in the dim light of the dusty hangar. "Can we rewind this back a little bit and start again?"


	9. Interlude for Two

Wing and Deathscythe sat in silence in the shadows of a low cliff, the best that could be done in the way of hiding them. Heero glanced at the radar still clear, they'd made a clean getaway and set up alarms and checked his systems.  
  
The commlink crackled. *Can I... come over?*  
  
"Hn." Heero noted with a flicker of surprise that Duo sounded somewhat subdued. Normally danger and adrenaline brought out the hyper-active jester, if not the laughing murderous Shinigami.  
  
Deathscythe extended a hand towards Wing in a gesture like an entreaty. Heero kept a distracted eye on the outdoor monitor and saw the Gundam's hatch open and a lithe black figure scramble up the torso to the shoulder, run down the arm and jump to Wing's cockpit. Heero hit the hatch release and finished checking systems. He glanced up again at the uncharacteristic silence.  
  
Duo was hanging back a bit, a few feet away, looking at him with a grin. Heero frowned, he recognized that expression. It was the mask Duo wore with others, the one that meant he was unsure about something, defensive. Running and hiding. Oh right, the circuit... Or was it something else?  
  
Duo watched the strong fingers flicker over the final commands of a systems check, and the frown that wasn't only due to concentration. He could feel himself retreat behind the jester, as if that would stop him from getting hurt-...   
  
No wait a minute.  
  
That wasn't right. This was Heero. If he had any reserves about their relationship, he'd have come out and said so, hell, he had done so in the past. Duo always knew exactly where the limits were with Heero, what was allowable and what wasn't, and even if he occasionally let his enthusiasm get the better of him, Heero also knew, fundamentally and to the core, that Duo could take things such as the war and their missions very seriously, and wouldn't voluntarily cross any lines. If he did... Heero would tell him straight up and to his face and if possible give him a chance to fix things... So maybe this was still salvageable, if he played it straight. If not... he'd take it straight too. He didn't feel like games right now.  
  
Duo relaxed slightly, dropped the mask, and balanced on a console board, still a good distance away, as far as he could manage in the small cockpit. "I... had an interesting conversation with Wufei just before the evac."  
  
Heero had flinched ever so slightly, and he was scowling. "I can imagine. I wanted to talk to you first but he beat me to it. I'm sorry."  
  
He glanced over at the 'thump' of Duo falling off the console. "Don't injure yourself, baka."  
  
"Ahhh... " Duo rubbed his rump and stared at his lover. Heero? Sorry?! "What-"  
  
"I made a mistake." Heero said in clear clipped tones. Duo hesitated, then pinched himself. Ouch. Okay, so maybe his ears were damaged...   
  
"I was... distracted, and I accidentally said something to Chang that indicated we were no, to be precise, I didn't say that much but he misinterpreted it as my complaining that you were pursuing me."  
  
Duo had a quick flash of what this might look like to the casual observer as Heero explained. Duo still flat out on his rump in case the world started to spin like a merry-go-round- silent and listening, Heero explaining things and using more than three words to do so. This is us, Duo suddenly thought. I never realized just how different we behave together, compared to the jester and the perfect machine we are with the others. That's what we have together, more than the sex, or the partnership in the face of the enemy. It's the opportunity to be ourselves when no-one else really needs us to be.  
  
"Duo?"  
  
"Uh? Oh yeah, I... that sounds about right. Er... do you know if Wufei has the hots for you?"  
  
"Nani?!"  
  
"I take that as a no. Oh boy. I kinda misunderstood him. And him me."  
  
"K'so. What did you tell him?"  
  
"Well... " Duo scratched his chin. "Nothing compromising, and he was too busy threatening me to really listen." No one listens to me much anyway, they mostly just tune me out. Except for you. "I insulted him pretty thoroughly but he's used to that... But he was okay in the end."  
  
Heero stared at him with something like admiration. "Explain. What could you tell him to be 'okay'?"  
  
"Hmm, made a promise that I wouldn't approach you until you made the first move, far as I can recall."  
  
"What?" Heero started. "Why did you say that?"  
  
"'S a bit complicated. I, ah, thought Wufee might be interested in you himself."  
  
"Explain!"  
  
"Hm, something he said, and, well, I kinda overheard part of your conversation with him in the yard. But not all of it. Obviously."  
  
Heero's eyes went blank. "I don't see what part of our conversation could have led you to believe-... " then he hesitated.  
  
"Well actually, I think it might have been on my mind anyway." Duo muttered, more to himself. "We're all pretty hormonal and Wufei is such a tightly wound spring, and he really does admire you a lot... I guess I kinda drew conclusions. When in fact he was being straight, he was trying to warn me off for real, he really does think you don't want anything to do with me anymore. No wonder he was so-"  
  
Heero came back from his replay of his conversation with Wufei to stare thoughtfully at Duo, still sitting on the floor.   
  
"Anymore?" The precise Heero caught the odd word out in what others would have dismissed as rambling. "Chang doesn't know we're involved in the first place."  
  
"Ahh yeah, that's what I meant of course." Duo said, just a bit too quickly, and lifted his head to find himself pinned by cobalt blue eyes. "Erm, yeah, he talked, I talked, he threatened, I laughed, I jumped to some weird conclusion, all pretty much the same old same old."  
  
"And did your conclusions lead you to think he was right? About me not wanting anything to do with you _anymore_? Is that why you were... " he waved a hand at the entrance hatch, and Duo's display when he'd entered. Heero wasn't good at putting names to emotions but from the way Duo was acting shifty he thought he didn't need to this time, they both knew what he was talking about.  
  
"Oh babe, of course I didn't-" Duo abruptly shook his head and looked down at his feet. After a few seconds, he said, quietly. "Yes, I wondered. He said... he said some stuff that was true, and you _were_ pretty mad at me. First I make you drop that circuit and then I get you so upset you accidentally spill our fling out to Wufei. I guess I am kind of a distraction to you. I always wondered if-"  
  
Duo gasped as two strong arms grabbed him and lifted him up and a steely body pinned him against the wall. Lips were a firm pressure against his mouth, a hair's breath from a bruise.  
  
What the-! Heero never took the initiative like this, not without a hell of a lot of preparation.  
  
"Whaaa." Duo mumbled incoherently as his mouth was abruptly released.  
  
"Keeping your promise. Remember? You promised Chang to wait until I made the first move." Heero was looking at him seriously, cobalt blue eyes inches from his own.  
  
"Eerrrrr yeah." Duo wondered if he'd entered the twilight zone, and what he could do to stay there. Then a rough shake to his shoulders brought him back to the real world.   
  
"You are a distraction. You do occasionally make mistakes. And I find that since I've allowed myself to... become involved in our relation, I am distracted, and I also make mistakes." Duo's mouth went suddenly dry and his heart quivered. "But I think you allow me to get in touch with a part of myself that makes me better. As a soldier and... otherwise. And besides, if these past three weeks are any indication, it would be more distracting to do without you. It is up to me to make sure that I do not let any influence you have on me sidetrack me or make me commit a serious mistake." The hard jaw jutted with resolve. "I will just have to work harder to overcome the weaknesses inherent to this type of relation, to better benefit from-"  
  
Duo had tugged him into a hug. "Forget it, babe, you couldn't be any more perfect if you tried." He whispered.  
  
"I disagree." Heero grumbled against his shoulder, but returned the hug. And then some.  
  
Duo wondered if this was wise, to start getting touchy with the perfect soldier without disarming his reflexes first. He wondered if maybe Heero hadn't disarmed himself this once. He wondered just how many steps towards humanity Heero had taken without him noticing. Then he just wondered how comfortable the command chair was exactly...   
  
The communicator chirped and the monitor switched on. They both stiffened until they realized they were out of line of sight.  
  
*Heero? Damn it where are they?*  
  
Heero was back in the command chair in a heartbeat. "Here, 04."  
  
*Heero! I was starting to worry, I can't get a hold of Duo-*  
  
"We're both available, have you found a place to regroup?"  
  
*Yes, I'm sending you the coordinates now. It's that place I mentioned a couple months back, the airfield.*  
  
"Acknowledged. We should be there in about an hour."  
  
*See you soon. Over and out.*  
  
Heero began entering coordinates into the flight computer, pushing his bangs from his eyes in a way that looked a bit tense. And frustrated.  
  
"Damn hormones, uh?" Duo grinned through his own disappointment as he straightened his clothes. If he remembered Quatre's description, the place only had two bedrooms and Wufei would insist on sharing with them for quite some time, he was ready to bet. Just what he needed, a foul-tempered Chinese chaperone with a very sharp katana.  
  
"They can be... distracting." Heero admitted dryly as he entered the last numbers, then he glanced up. "Which reminds me... If we are so badly affected, I can't help wondering... if the others might not be having similar problems."  
  
"Well you know, I do think Wufei is reaaally-"  
  
"I was thinking about Barton."   
  
"Trowa?!" Duo sank down on to the armrest of the command chair, staring. "Er, Heero, there's no way that Trowa has a thing for you."  
  
"No, but I wonder if he's not developing an interest in you." Heero said point blank. Duo gaped. "He was observing you very closely for a long time earlier with a strange expression on his face."  
  
"It must have been strange if _you_ noticed." Duo said with slight lack of diplomacy but considerable accuracy. "Hm, that was because I was teasing Quatre. I think. There's no way Trowa would fall for me."

 

"I did."  
  
Duo blinked then his eyes softened. "I guess you did."  
  
"And you're always saying that opposites attract."  
  
Duo leaned forward, balancing on the armrest precariously to give Heero a light kiss. "Don't worry about it, though. I've got very exacting standards. Only perfect soldiers will do. And as for Trowa, he's got his own little opposite, right?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Well, Quatre."  
  
"What about Winner?"  
  
"Trowa wouldn't look at me as long as he's got Quatre to hang on to."  
  
Heero frowned. "Are you saying that Barton and Winner are in a relationship? Duo, is there something wrong with your inner ear? If you keep falling down like that you _will_ eventually injure yourself."  
  
"Babe... " Duo looked up from his new position on the floor at the face scowling down at him. "Babe, babe, babe, please tell me you're joking."  
  
"Joking?"  
  
"Oh my god, he's not joking. Heero, Quatre and Trowa have been an item since five minutes after they met! And it's been pretty obvious!" He watched in disbelief as Heero's eyebrows shot up. "Good god, man, they've done everything but wait for lunch and hump each other on the kitchen table!"  
  
"... table?" Heero sounded confused.  
  
"I've been making jokes about it for months!"  
  
"I thought those were just jokes."  
  
"Yes but they were funny because they were true!"  
  
"... "  
  
"Okay, still have some work to do on that 'getting a feel for other's emotions'. Never mind, babe, I still love you."  
  
Heero was scowling. "I can't blame them, seeing our own situation, but... all these complications have to be getting in the way of the efficiency and reliability of the team. I do not approve of that!"  
  
Duo headed towards the door, brushing off the back of his black pants. "I don't think it's that-"  
  
"The whole mess with Chang? You teasing Winner about his situation? Barton getting angry at you for teasing Winner? Without mentioning whatever distractions occur between us?" Heero glared at him, a death scowl that would send a lesser man running. "I still want to keep this as simple as possible to avoid any further complications. If possible let's get Chang off your back without telling him more than he needs to know and hope the whole thing blows over and we can get back to normal. I _don't_ want any further annoyances or arguments on this subject. Get back in your Gundam, 02, we have the coordinates, we need to regroup. This position is not safe."  
  
"Aye aye, Cap'n." Duo sighed. He thought that things might not be that easy, that maybe this time the complications weren't going to go away... but Heero was really put out by the whole thing. Duo would rather try to argue with Deathscythe than with his lover when he was in that kind of foul mood. Especially when there was a bit of sexual frustration added to the mix...   
  
*   
  
An hour later Duo left Heero to inspect the premises and perimeter of the Gundams' hiding place (something he always did personally however safe it was) while he headed through the rain towards the safe-house. Frustrated, sure, but also immensely relieved. He and Heero were okay, everything was okay. He'd fob Wufee off with some lame-ass explanation, if that was even needed, and then everything would go back to the way it was.  
  
Man what a day, he thought. Good thing it's almost over, if one more thing goes wrong, I'm gonna have a nervous breakdown. Now for a little peace and quiet...


	10. Love and a Bullet

A damp Duo walked into the room and the wall of nearly visible tension. Trowa and Wufei were both glaring at him.  
  
"Maxwell!" Wufei snarled just as Trowa said: "We have to talk."  
  
Eep!  
  
"Erm guys-" Duo took a step back towards the door.  
  
"Don’t you dare leave! We can either try to talk some sense into you or we can neuter you!" Wufei snapped.  
  
Don’t even joke about that! Duo thought, but didn’t say anything. He turned towards Trowa, he at least would be reasonable, he hoped.  
  
He was met, not by the usual stolid wall of seeming indifference but by something that almost looked like hurt.  
  
"Tro... ?"   
  
"Duo, I know how urges can grow here in isolation." Trowa started heavily. "I know you must feel frustrated-"  
  
"It’s something Heero and I deal with perfectly well!" Snapped Wufei.  
  
Duo couldn’t help himself, he burst out laughing. Yeah, Heero dealt with it reeeeal well. By pinning Duo to a wall and attacking his lips as if they were a mission in their own right.  
  
"I didn’t mean-! Damn it Maxwell you know I didn’t mean it that way!" Wufei’s cheeks were flaming as he realized how his words could be misinterpreted once again.   
  
Duo laughed so hard he actually had to lean against the wall. He was vaguely aware of Trowa restraining Wufei.  
  
"Duo, this is no joking matter." Trowa said, frowning, while twisting Wufei’s arm a bit. "These kind of tensions can harm our team. This goes beyond my personal feelings. I’m very... concerned that you seem to be toying with someone as dangerous as Heero as well as pursuing Quatre, I think- put the katana away, Wufei, that’s not helping."  
  
Duo’s laughter cut off as if a switch had been flipped. He drew a few ragged breaths into his aching lungs as he replayed the sentence in his mind. Trowa had stopped talking, as if the words were somehow alien to him, had hurt him tearing themselves out.  
  
"I-... what?"  
  
"Winner!" Wufei snapped. "Apparently insulting Yuy wasn’t enough for you, you had to press advances on him as well!"  
  
Duo’s eyes were like saucers. "What the fu-! Trowa, how can you even-! What-!? Okay where the hell is this coming from?!"  
  
"If you’re crazy enough to pursue Yuy, you’re insane enough to chase after anybody!" Wufei snarled. Trowa put a sharp hand on his arm and turned towards Duo with a more reasonable tone of voice.  
  
"I’m making an assumption but I believe it’s a reasonable one, based on observation." Trowa murmured. "Such as earlier, when you were both stumbling back from that clearing we hid the Gundams in, red in the face and your clothes all covered in leaves."  
  
"I fell." Duo snapped, not caring how implausible it sounded. "Why do you-" then the significance of the word ‘both’ hit him. "Er, wasn’t Quatre with you? I thought he said he was-" Yeah, the little pipsqueak had been beet-red, Duo had interrupted the two lovers­  
  
"Quatre was trying to cover for you, I think. He’s not willing to tell me what happened and I respect that, but I won’t have you-"  
  
"He-... wasn’t with you?" Duo’s mouth had suddenly gone dry, remembering the tableau but giving it a different interpretation.  
  
"No, he went out to inspect a disturbance near the Gundams. He-"  
  
"Quatre?!" Duo squeaked, going red himself.  
  
"Yes?" The Winner heir had finished a quick sandwich in the kitchen and was wondering what all the shouting was about, though since it was Wufei’s and Duo’s voices he didn’t really think it was anything out of the ordinary. That had sounded different though.  
  
He glanced around at the three in the room, with his eyes and his empathic ability. Wufei was pretty much as usual, glaring darkly at Duo and trembling with nearly uncontainable anger. Duo however was not teasing him; he was red, with a thread of panic and embarrassment hovering around him. That was strange. And Trowa, standing tall and stoic and calm- Quatre’s heart clenched at the muted feelings his usually unreadable lover was shrouded with. Pain, loneliness, desolation; faint, like a gentle grey smudge hovering in the air around him, ignored as if unimportant... the feelings he’d had when Quatre had first met him. The ones he’d dedicated his life, his mind, his body to erasing forever.  
  
"What’s going on?" Quatre’s lips trembled.  
  
"Quatre... " Duo’s seriousness was highlighted by Quatre’s real name instead of one of the dozen nicknames he usually used. "Yesterday, when I ran into you... you were coming from our Gundam’s hide-out?"  
  
Quatre’s face was like a set of roman candles going off, all red.  
  
"I- ah, Duo, I-"  
  
And Heero had just given him the ‘let’s keep it discreet’ rap. "Oh, that’s just great! Oh man he’s going to kill me!"   
  
"No I won’t." Trowa, misunderstanding, said calmly way too calm, Quatre’s heart screamed at him, like the numbness that followed fatal blood loss.   
  
"I might!" Snarled Wufei. "If this animal doesn’t stop chasing his team-mates like a common-"  
  
"Don’t say it, Wuffers!" Duo snapped, his eyes suddenly dangerous. "Or I might just tell the guys about our interesting conversation today."  
  
"Dammit! You know that I never-"  
  
"Trowa?" Quatre’s voice was uncertain, trying to understand the situation. Trowa was looking at him and Allah he was still squirming as Duo shot him a hot glance- as if the stoic mercenary understood, well, _something_ , but surely- Then Trowa had to hold back Wufei again-  
  
 _Crack!_  
  
The gunshot sent four hands darting to their respective weapons.  
  
Then they saw who had fired the shot. They all froze as one.  
  
Heero slowly lowered his gun ignoring the small trickle of plaster from the ceiling- and glared at them.  
  
"Shut up now!"  
  
Everyone was very still.  
  
"That is enough!" The three pilots had never seen him this angry. No-one would _dare_ to move- They stared in horror as Duo rolled his eyes in exasperation and took a step right into the mine-field.  
  
"Jeez. Heero?"  
  
"Yes!"  
  
"You have our undivided attention now, so put the gun away already."  
  
The weapon had instinctively pointed in the direction of movement, that is, towards Duo. Who appeared completely oblivious.   
  
"Maxwell, stay back." Wufei muttered as Duo took another step. Damn it, this was what he’d been afraid of from the start! Maxwell had lost all sense of danger around the perfect soldier, and he was walking straight into a bullet!  
  
Duo glanced back at him in surprise and realized how tense everyone was. He could read Heero; the perfect soldier was upset, embarrassed, even a bit angry, but hardly homicidal. But he realized he was the only one who could see that. The others had never seen Heero upset or embarrassed so they went with what they knew: furious. Wufei’s oriental eyes were fastened on Heero, his hand was on the gun at his belt, angling to intervene if things got further out of control. Trowa had taken half a step to stand between Heero and Quatre, but his hand was stretched out towards Duo.   
  
"We’re listening Heero." The pilot of Heavyarms said in a dead calm voice. "Just don’t point the gun at Duo, please." He made a gesture towards Duo to fall back to stand besides him, out of harm’s way. Quatre nodded quickly at the braided pilot to do so, though his eyes on Heero were puzzled.  
  
Duo looked at the other three pilots in turn then turned back towards Heero who was looking at him. Duo could read the slightest expression on the mask by now, and he knew they shared the same emotion; surprise. Whatever tension had been directed at Duo before the shot had melted like snow under a blowtorch in the face of danger. Duo caught his eyes and held his glance, a silent communication. Heero lifted an eyebrow, then frowned in returning embarrassment and annoyance.  
  
"This is why I wanted us to be discreet!" He growled, but he seemed resigned.  
  
Wufei and Trowa hesitated as they reread the threat level emanating from Heero. Then they stared.  
  
Duo was suddenly not the jester, the light-hearted mocker they knew; he was smiling but it was steady and also tender. He took another two steps forwards everybody tensed- and gently lifted the gun by the barrel.  
  
"Weapon, babe. You make people nervous when you wave it around like that."  
  
Heero blinked at his gun, then grunted and holstered it.  
  
"And to address your remark, babe, it’s _because_ we were discreet that we’re in this mess. That and people jumping to conclusions." He added with a glare at Trowa. "I can’t believe you’d think I’d poach Quatre off you, Tro. What kinda friend do you think I am?"  
  
"What?" Quatre squeaked. He stared at Trowa and a look of stunned comprehension replaced the previous ‘wounded puppy’ stance.  
  
"I don’t understand... " Trowa’s eyes were slightly wider than usual though, as he was, in fact, beginning to understand, though not quite willing to believe it.  
  
"The explanation of all this confusion... it’s rather complicated." Heero crossed his arms and ground the words out as if he were under OZ interrogation. "We-... well... "  
  
A braided head nuzzled against his shoulder. "Heero and I have been going at it like bunnies for six months now!"  
  
"... Okay, maybe it wasn’t that complicated." Heero cast a look of resignation at Duo who was beaming like a flashlight.  
  
A thunderous silence ensued.   
  
It was broken by Quatre, who was only surprised by half of the news. "... S-six _months_?! But- but why didn’t you-... !"  
  
"We saw no reason to tell you." Heero answered the unfinished question abruptly. "Our efficiency was not compromised, and we are still dedicated to our missions and the war. What we do on our own time should be our private concern."  
  
"But-" Wufei’s voice broke.   
  
"You didn’t let me explain, Chang. I meant to tell you, but you drew the wrong conclusions and then walked away." Heero told him precisely.  
  
"Yeah, you don’t talk fast enough, babe. And Fei-Fei goes up like a rocket when you light his tail, you have to be quick!" Duo was smirking at the Oriental youth while leaning a casual arm against Heero’s shoulder. "Though I think the mix-up was just a bit too, ah, easy! You sure you’re not a bit jealous, Wuffers? Cause you know, you certainly-"  
  
"Duo!" Heero snapped, glaring at his lover. "Stop taunting Chang. He is heterosexual, and an honourable, dedicated warrior who is quite above such trivialities anyway. You should respect that."  
  
"You take all the fun out of it, babe!" Duo grinned, but noticed that Wufei’s shoulders had suddenly relaxed and his eyes were no longer looking so crazed, and decided to let it rest. "For one day."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I’ll stop teasing Fe- Wufei until tomorrow. He’s had a rough day, I’ll give him that. Then after that-"  
  
"You’ll stop all together, Duo, it’s not respectful." Heero glared. The look bounced right off the amused amethyst eyes.  
  
"Oh come on! It loosens him up so much to be mad at me! And it relaxes me no end! But tell you what, you could negotiate two days out of me, maybe three."  
  
"Why should I-" Then Heero noticed the glint in Duo’s eyes. "What... do you mean?"  
  
"Keep me really busy and relaxed for the next few days and I’ll forget Wufee even exists." Duo leered, then twirled, his braid flying, and headed towards one of the bedrooms. "You guys don’t mind, do you? It’s for a good cause."   
  
Heero hesitated then followed towards the door. He glanced back.  
  
"Are we all settled?"  
  
Three pairs of blank eyes stared back at him.  
  
"I-... " Heero scowled. "I apologize for not saying anything sooner. This confusion could have been avoided. But then again... " Suddenly his lips quirked and three pilots stared in amazement at something so strange; a small, rueful smile from the perfect soldier. "Then again, our discretion is something that you might come to miss. I could be wrong, but... "  
  
"Hee-kun, you coming?"  
  
Heero shrugged and closed the bedroom door behind him.  
  
Three pairs of eyes burned holes into the wood for a few seconds then twitched away in embarrassment.  
  
Stunned silence.  
  
"... Three weeks ago, I noticed something on Heero’s chest... a love bite the size of a golf ball... " Quatre muttered, with the air of someone who’d been hit on the head with a mallet.  
  
"... I thought it had to be a bruise." Trowa said after awhile, his eyes still wide.  
  
"... So did I, of course. I just thought it was a funny mental image. The perfect soldier with a... " Quatre shook his head sharply.  
  
Silence. Apart from a thump and a rustle next door. They moved to the front of the living room.  
  
"We should have realized something was up." Trowa sighed. "Duo is the only one Heero calls by his first name."  
  
"Huh, you’re right!"  
  
Silence. More scuffling sounds from next door.  
  
"Are they fighting?" Trowa muttered, it sounded a bit loud for- then he caught sight of Quatre’s blushing face and didn’t bother finishing the mental sentence. Wufei, still looking a bit stressed, scowled out at the rain falling in streamers outside.  
  
"What did he mean, we might miss their discretion?" Wufei asked abruptly. His face was still angry and red, and resentful of the whole embarrassing mix-up which he was just beginning to unravel in his head. He was obviously wishing he’d known the truth from the start.  
  
"I don’t kn-"  
  
Quatre’s mouth stayed open in a silent ‘oh’ as a moan echoed from the bedroom.   
  
A thick cringing silence hovered over them and no one was surprised when it was broken five seconds later by a louder moan that ended in something like a shout.  
  
Trowa rolled his eyes in exasperation and Quatre blushed some more.  
  
When Duo started shouting out loud and quite explicit instructions, they finally broke and ran for it, rain be damned.  
  
"I think that’s what he meant." Quatre said to Wufei’s angry back. "But don’t worry!" Wufei turned a scandalized look back at him, and Quatre grinned. "I don’t think they’ll be like this all the time, this is just Duo’s way of teasing us."  
  
"Yes, Heero is too worried about efficiency not to let us get _some_ sleep." Trowa added dryly.  
  
Wufei muttered something in mandarin and stormed off towards the faraway hangars.  
  
A shriek seemed to rattle the windows.   
  
"Hm." Trowa shrugged. Let Duo have his revenge. He turned towards Quatre to suggest they head to the hangars as well. His lover was fixing him with a stare that was far removed from any worries about rain.  
  
"What did Duo mean? About poaching?"  
  
Trowa sighed imperceptibly.   
  
"What was with you earlier, in the woods?"  
  
Quatre grimaced and crooked a thumb towards the house. "That was. I sort of stumbled upon them while they- ah, you get the picture."  
  
"Ah."  
  
The rain fell steadily, growing heavier and whiting their vision, as if the wet clouds were slowly bending forward to meet the earth.   
  
"... I think you have more to say than that." Quatre shook his wet bangs out of his eyes.


	11. Tangled Skeins Can Be Safety Nets

"... I think you have more to say than that." Quatre shook wet bangs out of his eyes.  
  
Trowa looked out at the clump of trees playing peek-a-boo in the veils of rain. "We need to do a perimeter check, the monitors-"  
  
"-are wired to my communicator." Quatre waved it in the air. "They'll warn us if anyone approaches the safe house within half a mile. We can still walk the perimeter if you want, or go to the hangar, or sit down right here in the mud, it's up to you, but you are going to tell me what you thought was going on between me and Duo."  
  
"I ran into you both in the woods. Do you remember?"   
  
Quatre shuddered. "Vividly. My head was spinning so badly I thought- I mean, Duo and _Heero_?! And then when Duo showed up I thought I was going to die! I couldn't believe you didn't ask... me... " Quatre blinked at Trowa several times as the rest of the pieces began to fall into place.  
  
"You-you thought-... you thought it was me that Duo was with?"  
  
"Along those lines." Trowa shrugged, then realized that was probably not what was expected. "I apologize, I drew the wrong conclusions from-" But Quatre was waving both his hands in a sharp cutting off gesture, blue eyes fixed on his own.  
  
"No, don't apologize. I think I can see where the mix-up could come from, so instead tell me _why_ you thought I would do this to you."  
  
"Not 'do this to me'; I know you wouldn't hurt anyone deliberately." Trowa said gently.  
  
Quatre paled as if he'd been slapped. "Any-... anyone?"

 

Trowa hesitated, unsure of what he'd said wrong. Since Quatre said nothing, he continued.  
  
"I have no claim on you, Quatre. Obviously I was wrong about Duo, but, even had I not been... I was upset because he seemed to be trifling with you. And because he had apparently gone completely insane and was also chasing Heero, and I didn't want to see him get killed. Um." He thought he heard another yell through the drenched panes and shook his head. "But apart from that... I don't own you, and I care about your happiness. Duo is charming, gregarious, giving, much like you. If he won your affection I wouldn't be surprised, and I certainly wouldn't be difficult about it." The very concept seemed alien to him. What could he possibly say or do that could change the way Quatre felt and loved?  
  
Quatre was staring straight ahead of him now. Trowa realized he was shivering. He took the blond gently by the shoulder. "Come on, you're cold. Let's go in. Sounds like Duo's stopped vocalising. Or maybe Heero gagged him." He gave Quatre a reassuring half-smile, and tugged the shoulder.  
  
Quatre didn't move an inch.  
  
Trowa realized that it wasn't only rain running down the ashen face under the wet gold strands.  
  
"Quatre... I'm sorry, I hurt your feelings... did I insult you? I didn't mean... Are you angry?" Trowa felt around for any other reasons for the tears, the pallor.  
  
"I'm terrified."  
  
The words were said in a small voice nearly lost in the drumming splash of rain, and they sunk to the bottom of Trowa's confusion.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because you're not just 'anyone'. You're the person I care about the most in the entire world and in space. And just by- by a simple set of coincidences, just by innocently doing one thing instead of another, I can hurt you so badly... I wanted to be the one who made sure you were never hurt again. That's... it's not supposed to work this way." He sounded lost. "But I don't know... I don't know how to avoid-... "  
  
"Quatre, no need to get upset. I know it was a misunderstanding."  
  
"And what about next time? Next misunderstanding?" The blue eyes were suddenly fierce as they caught his again, oblivious of tears. "Are you going to ask me first, next time, before you let yourself bleed to death in silence? Or are you going to assume that that's too _clingy_ and that I'll be happier with someone else!"  
  
Trowa was silent. He could lie easily- and he could fool Quatre's empathy, he was the only one who could, but then next time, would things be any different... ? Why should they? The fundamental facts as he had laid them out were still valid.  
  
"Look!" Quatre grabbed the rain-drenched sweater to pull Trowa to him and gave the taller youth a shake. "Look, I-... " Then he smiled. The rain ceased to matter.  
  
"Let's put it in technical terms. There's no one- not even as charming as Duo, and he must have the charm of the devil to get Heero interested- who can steal my heart, Trowa. Because I don't have it anymore. I gave it to you the moment I first saw you."  
  
"... so that's what it was... " Not a pulse of energy; a heartbeat, running between them.  
  
"What?"  
  
"... nothing... but... why?"  
  
"I don't know! Some things you can't explain. Maybe because you needed it more than anyone I'd ever met? Maybe because I felt at peace, at that moment, like I was sharing something too heavy, too... hard for me to carry alone. I don't know, but there you go. If Duo was trying to win my heart he was flirting with the wrong guy!" He tugged harder and Trowa stumbled into a very wet and cold embrace.  
  
"... Quatre... I have to tell you... that is probably the most nonsensical thing anyone has ever said to me." His arms closed hesitantly, warming them both.  
  
"That sounds like a challenge!"   
  
"Well, no-"  
  
"Here's something serious then. Like it or not, I have the power to hurt you. But you also have the power to hurt me." The strong arms stiffened in alarm around him. "We share the same heart now. Hold it close, please. Don't give up on it because you think you might not be worth it."  
  
"I don't know if I am... "  
  
"And I know you are, that's why it was yours without a question right from the start. Don't give up on your happiness, you'd take mine away too."  
  
Trowa felt himself tremble. Was this what being alive felt like? A taste of pure joy at the price of tremendous responsibility?   
  
"I promise. I'll hold it close." He'd defend Quatre's happiness much more fiercely than he would ever have done his own.  
  
"Good... you can hold me close too."  
  
"That's also a promise... as soon as we get out of the rain."  
  
"... The second bedroom's free."  
  
"... "  
  
"And if you want to take care of me, you might want to make sure I get out of these wet clothes before I catch a- whoa! Hey- hey, I _can_ walk, you know, you don't have to- "  
  
"... "  
  
"-just be careful not to hurt your back. You're going to need it... "  
  
*  
  
A humid breeze drifted through the hangar, shifting the wet strands of Wufei's hair, which he'd released from its strict ponytail to allow it to dry.   
  
Something in him was also released.  
  
The words kept repeating in his head. Honourable. Dedicated. Warrior. (And heterosexual as well, which was all the nicer to hear now he realized he was in a minority of one on that particular point.)  
  
If he were one given to introspection, he would realize just how badly he'd needed to measure up in Heero's eyes because he'd failed so badly in his own. Treize had beaten him. He'd failed to exact justice for Meiran and his colony. All his skill, his prowess, his dedication, they all seemed futile when brought up against those truths, and against the steel of what he saw as uncompromising perfection.   
  
Somehow, knowing that Heero had fallen for Duo (of _all people_ , by the way... ), that brought the image of the perfect soldier down to a more human level, something he felt he could at least aspire to compare to... and it seemed to ease the burden of his own failure... to realize he, too, was only human in the end and entitled to his weaknesses. The real test of his metal would be to go beyond that now and achieve the goals and ideal of perfection he set for himself, without some impossible illusion to measure up to...   
  
He guessed he didn't mind about those two, in that light. Although it still blew his mind, of course ( _Yuy_ and _Maxwell!!_ ). But really... He'd lost his temper so badly because, when he saw Duo insult the perfect warrior, it was like seeing life humiliate him, Wufei, all over again; the point of Treize's sabre against his helpless throat before the man smiled and let him go. Now...   
  
He might even get around to apologizing to Duo, though he doubted it. He owed the L2 pilot that much for all the teasing he'd been subjected to in the past. Maybe Heero would have some influence on Duo that way... Then again, maybe not, even the perfect soldier apparently had his limitations.  
  
Maybe it was for the best. After twenty-four hours, the lack of usual Duo-shaped irritant would probably make him lose his edge.  
  
Wufei settled back against Nataku and closed his eyes, a timid feeling of peace settling into his heart, surprised at its new surroundings.  
  
*  
  
"Baka. I think my eardrums are bleeding."  
  
Duo twitched as the words, muttered against his naked chest, tickled him out of the state of sated relaxation he'd been floating in.  
  
"Well, I had to get some payback." Duo suddenly laughed as he absently toyed with chocolate brown hair. "Did you see their faces?"  
  
"Hn."  
  
"That was priceless. You don't realize what kind of mileage I'm going to get out of this. Erm, discreetly and with taste of course." He added quickly as he felt Heero lift his head to glare at him.  
  
"Hn." Heero tightened his grip on the nuisance and let his head sink down again. He frowned. "I have been learning more about human interaction with you, but I must admit... I don't understand what happened back there."  
  
"We rubbed their faces in it! We _owned_ them! We-"  
  
"They were so angry with you. Except for Winner who looked like he'd just been shot. Then it all went away. What happened?"  
  
"You fired your gun, babe."  
  
"... If that was all it took I think I would be much better at human relations than I am... "  
  
"You're probably right there. It's hard to understand for me too, it's not something I'm familiar with. But I think it's not that strange. Chance kinda threw us together, we fight and bleed side by side, we're very close, we share a lot but we're also very different. So sometimes we get things wrong and blow up in each other's faces. But when the chips go down, we're back to back in a second."  
  
"Sounds stupid to me."  
  
"Sounds like family to me."  
  
"... Hn."   
  
"That about sums it up... "  
  
 - Owari-  
  
 *Blows a few pieces of fluff away from the keyboard to type* On a side-note, I know I was very mean to Wufei and Trowa in this fic, which is strange cause I really like them! No seriously! They're just such easy targets. I hope I made it up to them a little in this chapter, and, more importantly, went some way to explaining, in this and other chapters, why they behaved the way they did (a comedy _can_ keep characters in character!). Please tell me if you think I succeeded. Or if you think I'm nuts and belong in a zoo, eh, well, feel free to tell me that too :D


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